1 . Many people quote the phrase from Jane Jacobs that “there must be eyes on the street” to emphasize the relationship between urban safety and design. Jacobs’ views on urban safety were, in truth, far more complex than this phrase suggests. Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities has become the basis of a worldwide movement to foster safer cities.

Jacobs made an important contribution to our understanding of cities by linking the fear of crime and urban design. In a successful city district a person must feel personally safe on the street among all these strangers. It doesn’t take many incidents of violence on a city street to make people fear the street. And as they fear them, they use them less, which makes the streets still more unsafe.

For Jacobs, eyes on the street came from stores and public places, including bars and restaurants along the sidewalks, street vendors and pedestrians. She recommended the installation of bright street lights to “sharpen every pair of eyes”.

Jacobs widened her attention to urban safety in general, including parks and public housing projects. While most planners focus on the green benefits of parks, she argued against underused or dangerous parks. She observed that parks are successful when they encourage a range of activities and users.

She emphasized design and management policies to encourage interaction at public housing sites. She suggest ed integrating public housing communities into existing street patterns and cultivating street activity by including businesses in the buildings. She opposed fencing and security guards, creating a sense of territory and isolating public housing residents from the wider community.

Jacobs wrote about her experience of daily life in the city and urged planners to pay attention to how ordinary people actually use urban space. From her experience as a wife, mother, and resident in New York, she arrived at a more human vision of the city than the experts of the day did. Her concern about urban safety was visionary (有远见的), and her manner of looking at the city still offers a critical viewpoint for evaluating crime prevention and community safety strategies today.

With cheap storylines and stereotypical (老套的) characters, online literature     1     (consider) low quality previously. But now, things seem to have changed.

China's online literature has grown in popularity over the last two     2     (decade). And now, this     3    (grow) industry is getting the recognition (认可) it deserves.

In early September,     4     total of 100 online literary works were included in the digital collection of the National Library of China. The move was aimed at     5     (preserve) memory as digital literature, according to CGTN.

“These online works of literature can allow readers and authors     6     (achieve) the resonance (共振) of the mood of the times,” noted Teller Report.

Also, the online literature     7     (inspire) the development of video games, films, TV series     8    animations (动画) at home and abroad.

“Chinese online literature bears huge     9     (imagine) and creation of the writers, and they have brought Chinese literature to the world,     10     strengthens China's cultural connections with the world,” Xiao Jinghong, vice president of the Institute of Online Literature of the Association of Chinese Writers, told CGTN.

5 . If you would like to learn more about how to better communicate your needs and listen to your inner voice, check out this book list given by Ben and Caitlin!

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

This book introduces Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a compassionate way of being with ourselves and others. Through simple techniques, you can learn how to change your language and thinking to strengthen relationships with others.

Walden; or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

After spending two years on the north shore of Walden Pond, Thoreau wrote the book Walden (1854). It is a practical account of how he supported himself through farming and by building his own house, and what he learned about human nature by living a simpler life. Although it was a deeply personal experience, Thoreau’s approach to society teaches us how we, too, can approach the modern world.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

It tells a story about the cross-country journeys of two friends, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty the fictional Jack Kerouac and the fictional Beat writer Neal Cassady. It is the most famous work of the Beat Generation, a movement of young people in the 1950s and early 1960s who valued free self-expression and favored modern jazz.

The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer

The book describes how Amanda Palmer developed her philosophy of asking, sharing and connecting. This book gives you a deep understanding of how to accept help, reward the generosity of others and build a closed, family-like fan base to support you in whatever you do.

6 . 2021 brought us some amazing titles. If you want to read the books that people couldn’t stop talking about that year, see below for our list of some of them!

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

An extraordinary new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Lowland and Interpreter of Maladies — her first in nearly a decade—about a woman questioning her place in the world, hesitating between inactivity and movement, between the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties.

Hardcover: $24. 00

The Paper Palace by Miranda Heller

A story of summer, secrets, love and lies: in the course of a single day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that she has been preparing for decades. Gentle yet disastrous, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes of families.

Hardcover: $27.00

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

A great new novel from Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of Klara—an artificial friend with outstanding observational qualities— and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

Hardcover: $26.00

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masteiful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we create and a celebration of falling in love with the world.

Hardcover: $24.00

8 . It’s looking like a great year for poetry collections! Poetry has a way of drawing our consciousness not only to our inner self but to society’s most pressing and urgent issues. These are some of the poetry books we can’t wait to read in the year ahead.

Trigger Warning by Maria Takolander

Award-winning poet Maria Takolander presents what’s been called her “most impressive and personal collection yet.” As the title may suggest, this book(her fourth)deals with domestic violence and environmental disasters with a clear and attractive voice.

Release Date: July 2021

Publisher: University Queensland Press

Poems That Do Not Sleep by Hassan Al Nawwab

While Hassan Al Nawwab, a former Iraqi soldier, has published three poetry collections previously, this is the first collection in English translated from Arabic. His poems speak to his experiences of the war and the terrors he suffered, homesickness, peace and belonging.

Release Date: June 2021

Publisher: Fremantle Press

Obligations of Voice by Anne Elvey

Poet, editor and researcher, Anne Elvey has previously published three collections of poetry. This book speaks loudly to her work of eco-criticism — the study of how literature treats the subject of nature. Detailed and communicative at the same time, Elvey explores environmental encounters and the politics of our natural (and unnatural) worlds.

Release Date: June 2021

Publisher: Recent Work Press

A Thousand Crimson Blooms by Eileen Chong

Singaporean poet of Chinese origin, Eileen Chong, is the author of eight previous books published across the world Her latest poetry collection is a thoughtful reflection on the influences and histories that inform our identities and fascinations.

Release Date: March 2021

Publisher: University Queensland Press